Grand Theft Auto is now firmly established as one of the biggest game series of all time, and certainly the biggest on PlayStation 2. As well as pushing forward the case for free-roaming gameplay, where the player can approach the game as they wish, GTA also boasts more than its fair share of, shall we say, morally dubious content. How to follow it up, eh?

Well, beyond creating another GTA, the answer for Rockstar North is Manhunt. The game puts you in charge of a convicted murderer, James Earl Cash, who wakes up after his 'execution' to find that he is still alive. But if he wants his freedom, he's going to have to fight for it - he's imprisoned inside Carcer City, which is jam-packed with violent thugs on the lookout for him. The situation has been set up by the mysterious Director, a sicko who's keeping tabs on the whole thing via CCTV, and who gets off on extreme violence. And there's going to be plenty of that because, if he's to get out, Cash is going to have to kill whoever gets in his way. In really nasty ways.

Of course, it's not like there's a particularly nice way to go about killing someone. But the death scenes in Manhunt are spectacularly, hideously violent - this game carries an 18 certificate for a very good reason. While the subject matter of GTA isn't exactly Sunday School material, the world of organised crime is at least portrayed in a relatively caricatured and stylised manner. This is actually genuinely nasty and, if you're a parent reading this, please don't get it for your kids.

Assuming you're alright with highly graphic violence, you can stealth your way through Carcer City. Patiently picking off thugs one by one is the name of the game - that, and watching scenes of suffocation, glass shards being thrust into highly pressurised arteries, machetes hacking heads off, and more. Think Splinter Cell, if Sam Fisher had gone to a particularly bad borstal, and you're pretty much there.